Taliban attack Afghan courthouse, leaving 53 dead

ASSOCIATED PRESS

April 4, 2013 12:01 AM

This image made from AP video shows an injured Afghan National Army soldier taken off from a military vehicle outside the local hospital in Farah, western Afghanistan, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. Suicide bombers disguised as Afghan soldiers stormed a courthouse Wednesday in a failed bid to free more than a dozen Taliban prisoners in western Afghanistan, officials said. Scores of people, including the attackers were reported killed in the fighting. The assault in Farah province was the latest example of the Taliban's ability to strike official institutions despite tight security measures. (AP Photo via AP video)AP video

ASSOCIATED PRESS

April 4, 2013 12:01 AM

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Insurgents wearing Afghan army uniforms launched a suicide attack and stormed a courthouse Wednesday in a failed bid to free Taliban inmates, killing at least 44 people, half of them shot in the basement. Nine attackers were killed.

The attack -- one of the deadliest in the more than 11-year-old war -- began at about 8:30 a.m. when nine men wearing suicide vests drove into the capital of Farah province in western Afghanistan, evading checkpoints by using army vehicles, according to the provincial police chief. The standoff ended about eight hours later when the last gunman was killed.

Insurgents have stepped up assaults targeting the Farah provincial government in recent months as they vie for control of an area bordering Iran to the west and Helmand province to the east.

"The Taliban seem to be exploiting the opium harvest and the unpopular eradication efforts by the government to further establish their presence," Fabrizio Foschini, of the independent research group Afghan Analysts Network, said in a recent blog.

The attack began when two assailants blew themselves up inside one of the vehicles while the others ran toward the courthouse and prosecutor's office, provincial police chief Agha Noor Kemtoz said.